About Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
Rabbi Jack Abramowitz served as Director of Programs for NCSY before becoming Associate Director of the Pepa and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services. Rabbi Abramowitz holds degrees in Jewish studies, communications and Higher Education Administration. Among his accomplishments, he authored NCSY's Torah on One Foot series of educational pamphlets and created negiah.org, the first abstinence web site for Jewish teens. Rabbi Abramowitz is the author of The Shnayim Mikra Companion on Torah, The Nach Yomi Companion volumes 1 and 2 on the books of the Prophets and the Writings, and The Tzniyus Book.

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Taryag: A Mitzvah a Day

Questions? Contact us at taryag@ou.org

PARSHAT Re'eh
MITZVAH COUNTER
Mitzvos to date: 467
Positives:193
Negatives:274
That can be performed today:202
Plus those that can be performed only in Israel:20

467. Self-Harm: The prohibition against cutting one’s self


…you shall not cut yourselves… (Deuteronomy 14:1)

We are not allowed to cut ourselves – not in service of an idol and not even in grief over a loved one’s death (see Leviticus 19:28). We see that this was an idolatrous practice in I Kings chapter 18, where the priests of the Baal cut themselves as part of their service. While only cutting for the dead or for an idol would incur a court-imposed penalty, cutting oneself is equally prohibited for any other reason, or for no reason at all.

There are numerous reasons not to cut one’s self. If done for an idol, it violates the prohibition against idolatry. If done in grief for the dead, it is a rebellion of sorts against God’s judgment. In any case, it violates the Biblical injunction to protect our lives and our health (Deuteronomy 4:15) and, like tattooing, is a flagrant abuse of the bodies God has entrusted to our care.

There are those, particularly teenage girls, who suffer from a psychological compulsion to cut themselves. Religious objections aside, such behavior is dangerous and, believe it or not, contagious to the peer group. Cutting should be taken seriously by parents, who should be aware that simply ordering a cutter to stop is insufficient to ensure behavior modification.

This mitzvah applies in all times and places. It is discussed in the Talmud in tractate Makkos (20b-21a). It is codified in the Shulchan Aruch in Yoreh Deah 180. This mitzvah is #45 of the 365 negative mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos and #28 of the 194 negative mitzvos that can be observed today as listed in the Sefer HaMitzvos HaKatzar of the Chofetz Chaim.



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